For those who rely on travelling between countries to perform their everyday employment duties, COVID-19 has caused even more uncertainty and disruption to their travel plans than the rest of the population. If your movements for work have been impacted by COVID-19 with travel restrictions preventing you from leaving the UK, the following article should help provide clarity on your liability to UK income tax on your earnings. Non-UK Residents HMRC have acknowledged that instances arise where a non-UK resident is restricted from leaving the UK due to COVID-19, and consequently carries on working in the UK unexpectedly. With the above in mind, HMRC’s guidance states that the UK will not tax the employment income of a non-UK residen...

Following the release of our recent blog Structures and Buildings Allowance – Capital Allowances (published 30 June 2021), HMRC have published a policy paper on a proposed additional requirement for preparing an allowance statement. The allowance statement is required to make a claim for Structures and Buildings Allowance (“SBA”) and this proposed amendment will have effect once the next Finance Bill 2021-22 receives Royal Assent. In order to make a claim for the SBA, the current requirements that the allowance statement must meet are as follows: Details of the building or structure; The date of the earliest contract for the construction of the building or structure; The amount of qualifying expenditure incurred on its c...

HMRC has opened a consultation on reforming Basis Periods for unincorporated businesses, such as sole traders and partnerships. The current rules are  straightforward for those that draw up their annual accounts to 5 April, however complexities arise for those with alternative accounting periods, particularly in the first few years of trading. Current Rules Under the current rules, businesses are taxed on the Current Year Basis. If a business draws it's accounts to 5 April, then the profits in that accounting period is allocated to the same tax year (i.e. 6 April - 5 April). Where a business selects an accounting period end date other than 5 April the situation becomes more complex. The Basis Period for a tax year for the busin...

Structures and Buildings Allowances (“SBA”) was previously introduced to provide relief on qualifying expenditure on non-residential commercial buildings or structures incurred on or after 29 October 2018. SBA is a form of capital allowances which allows the SBA to be deducted when calculating the taxable profits for the business. Since its inception, there have been some changes to the allowance and further changes were announced in the Finance Act 2021 on Freeport qualifying expenditure. Please note that this article does not discuss requirements where the 'relevant interest' is the lease of a building. What expenditure can qualify for the SBA? The SBA is available for qualifying expenditure on non-residential commercial str...

The UK Supreme Court commented during the recent case of HMRC v Tooth [2021 UKSC 17] that ‘staleness’ is not a concept that can be used against discovery assessments, meaning that a discovery will not lose its quality over time. ‘Staleness’ has previously been argued by taxpayers to state that a discovery needs to be new and the discovery assessment needs to be issued within a certain period of time otherwise the discovery and the discovery assessment will not be valid. The concept of ‘staleness’ has been subject to numerous cases of litigation between HMRC and taxpayers since 2008 and this recent ruling has provided clarity on this matter. What is a Discovery Assessment? The rules for discovery assessments are largely ...

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is charged to the buyer on the acquisition of land in England and Northern Ireland. With the rates for SDLT typically being greater for residential land, there is an incentive for property to be deemed non-residential for tax purposes. In the case of Hyman, Pensfold, & Goodfellow v HMRC [2021], the Upper Tribunal upheld the rulings of the First-Tier Tribunal and found that land bought together with a house formed part of the garden and grounds. Therefore, the residential rates of SDLT applied on the full purchase price with no reductions given for the fact that the houses were acquired with a substantial amount of land. Background The Upper Tribunal considered three cases all with similar background f...

We recently wrote an article on the delays to the upgraded Trust Registration Service. HMRC have now announced that the upgraded Trust Registration Service is now expected to be rolled out in Autumn 2021 rather than Summer 2021 (which was announced recently by HMRC), causing further delays in allowing trusts to register on the Trust Registration Service. HMRC have also now confirmed that they will be extending the deadline to register to approximately 12 months from the delivery of the upgraded Trust Registration Service to provide additional time for registration. Related Articles https://www.pd-taxconsultants.co.uk/extension-to-the-uk-trust-registration-service-deadline-delay-to-upgraded-trust-registration-service/

In the 21st century, cryptocurrencies have gained huge traction globally, particularly with the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. Evidence of this significant increase in demand is that there are now more than 4,000 cryptocurrencies to choose from. However, despite this increasing popularity, a significant proportion of the population is still unsure as to what cryptocurrencies actually are, and whether they are worth investing in from a tax perspective. Trading in cryptocurrencies certainly has its success stories with there now being an estimated 100,000 people with $1 million or more invested in bitcoin. However, you should take care when considering these investments as there is a large amount of volatility involved when dealing with t...

UPDATE: HMRC have now announced that the upgraded Tax Registration Service is expected to be rolled out in Autumn 2021 (rather than Summer 2021 as noted below). Stay tuned for more updates as they arrive! In light of delays, HMRC has announced that the deadline for registering certain trusts and updating records under the Trust Registration Service ("TRS") is likely to be extended from 10 March 2022 to 12 months after the date of the delivery of the upgraded TRS. The implementation of the EU’s Fifth Money Laundering Directive in the UK has had an impact on the registration of trusts, as more trusts are now required to register with the TRS who were previously not required to register (although there are still some trusts that are ex...

Coronavirus Support Measures The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (i.e. the furlough scheme) will be extended until the end of September 2021. Whilst there will be no change to the terms for employees, as businesses re-open employers will be asked to contribute. From July, they will be asked to contribute 10% of the cost of unworked hours, rising to 20% in August 2021. The Self Employment Income Support Scheme will also be extended until September 2021, with those who filed a 2019/20 Self-Assessment Tax Return now able to make a claim. Restart Grants will be available to businesses in England of up to £6,000 per premises for non-essential retail, and up to £18,000 per premises for hospitality, accommodation, leisure, personal c...